Occupation, Class, and Social Networks in Urban China

• Published in: Social forces Vol. 83; no. 4; pp. 1443 - 1468
• Main Authors: Bian, Yanjie, Breiger, Ronald, Galaskiewicz, Joseph, Davis, Deborah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chapel Hill, NC The University of North Carolina Press 01.06.2005; University of North Carolina Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Celebrations; China; Cities; Class; Classes, stratification, mobility; Corporations; Differentiation; Economic aspects; Economic conditions; Economic reform; Economic resources; Exchange Theory; Financial management; Forecasts and trends; Foreign Countries; Hierarchies; Households; Housing authorities; Individualized Instruction; Labor force; Labor supply; Labour force; Manual labor; Market Economy; Market trend/market analysis; Occupations; Peoples Republic of China; Political Factors; Politics; Population; Privatization; Social change; Social classes; Social exchange theory; Social history; Social networking; Social Networks; Social organization. Social system. Social structure; Social privilege; Social Stratification; Social structure; Social structures; Socialism; Sociology; Statistics; Urban Areas; Urban Culture; Urban studies; Workplaces; Wright, Eric; China; Hierarchy; Urban environment; Social Mobility; Social stratification
• ISSN: 0037-7732; 1534-7605
• DOI: 10.1353/sof.2005.0053

China's class structure is changing dramatically in the wake of post-1978 market-oriented economic reforms. The creation of a mixed "market-socialist" economy has eroded the institutional bases of a cadre-dominated social hierarchy and created conditions for a new pattern of social stratification. Although conditions remain dynamic, results of a 1998 urban survey that measured strength and diversity of social ties among 400 households in four of China's largest cities documented networks of social exchange among 13 occupation-based classes that identify a class structure distinct from the cadre-dominated social hierarchy of the Mao era. In particular, analysis of visiting during the Lunar New Year celebration suggests an urban society simultaneously divided along two axes: one by economic success in the more privatized economy and one by distinctions in political authority at the workplace. Thus contrary to those who privilege market transactions as the primary engine for creating a new class hierarchy, we conclude that to understand processes of social stratification one needs theories and methods that work simultaneously with multiple dynamics of class differentiation rather than presuming linear hierarchy.